devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - day 16

I was thinking the other day about how tired I was feeling.  The thought came about a dull instrument, and how much better a sharp one did the job. 

So this morning, when it was time to get up and go to my class (Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival), I was still once again thinking how tired I was, but I got up (after repeatedly hitting the snooze, I might add!) and began getting ready to go.  However, I have learned my lesson and was not going to go off and running for the day without first doing my Lenten blog.

Actually, I had looked ahead at some of the devotionals before going to bed last night (it was around midnight).  I didn’t really sense that they were the ones I was to blog about, though.  It wasn’t until this morning - when I thought to just jot down something quickly and head off on my way - that God spoke.  I realized that I had neglected last night to check out the God Calling devotional (www.twolisteners.org) for today, and reading it made all the difference:

Spend more time alone with Me.

A strength and a Joy come from such times that will add much to your friendship, and much to your work.

Times of prayer are times of growth. Cut those times short and many well-filled hours of work may be profitless. Heaven's values are so different from the values of earth.

Remember that from the point of view of the Great Worker, one poor tool, working all the time, but doing bad work, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument, used only a short time, but which turns out perfect work.

UPHILL

Does the road wind

uphill all the way?

Yes, to the very end,

Will the journey take

the whole long day?

From morn to night, my friend.

-- C. G. Rossetti

"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day,

he went out, and departed into a solitary place,

and there prayed." Mark 1:35

 

So I have altered my plans again so as to not just go to a class about seeking Him, but to actually spend time doing it.  In answer to yesterday’s devotional, to take ”the time to get to know Him today.”

The first thing is gratitude – grateful for His calling, His speaking, for allowing me to hear (in answer to my prayers, no less), for His Spirit ordering my steps, my time (all of which is in His hands, anyway), His timing.  Had I read the devotional last night, I may have tried to handle the time with Him my way – which probably would have involved sleeping longer and getting to time with Him whenever I woke up.    This way, I am awake and up and dressed and doing what I should be doing first (even as a tithe).

Secondly is repentance – for wanting to shortcut the fulfilling of my commitment, for even considering doing it out of duty / obligation rather than love.  Indeed, now I see where today’s My Utmost for His Highest (www.utmost.org) fits in:

’By this we believe . . . .’ Jesus answered them, ’Do you now believe?’ —John 16:30-31

.

Now we believe. . . .” But Jesus asks, “Do you . . . ? Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you . . . will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.

We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to “walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to “walk in the light asHe is in the light. . .” (1 John 1:7). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation-just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.
 

OUCH – again!  But I am grateful for the correction, for God’s grace and mercy – that He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse as I respond in contrition before Him, confessing my sin (1 John 1:9).
 

…and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 15

A couple of today’s devotionals focus on spending time with the LORD in prayer.  First, the God Calling (www.twolisteners.org) :

Take time for prayer. Take more time to be alone with Me. So only will you prosper.

Realize that the hearing of Spirit Sounds is more than the hearing of all earth's noises. I am with you. Let that content you, nay, more, let that fill you with rapture.

Seek sometimes not even to hear Me. Seek a silence of spirit-understanding with Me. Be not afraid. All is well. Dwell much on what I did, as well as what I said.

Remember, I "touched her hand, and the fever left her." Not many words, just a moment's contact and all fever left her. She was well, whole, calm, able to arise and "minister unto them."

My touch is still a potent healer. Just feel that touch. Sense My Presence, and the fever of work and care and fear just melts into nothingness -- and health, joy, peace, take its place.

"For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole." Matthew 9:21

This next excerpt is from a devotional I receive via email from Ephesians Four Ministries (www.churchgrowth.org) entitled Prime Time with God featuring devotional messages from Today God Is First (TGIF) by Os Hilman:

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection...." - Philippians 3:10

If I asked you the purpose for which God made you, what might you say? You might give a lot of answers that required some action on your part. However, the simplest answer to that question relates to one primary thing: fellowship. The most important thing God desires from us today is to have a deep and intimate fellowship with each of us. …

Jesus understood how important quiet moments were with the Father. "After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone" (Mt. 14:23). The more mature I become in my relationship with the Lord, the more precious this time becomes to me. It is a time I look forward to almost daily. It offers me a time to reflect, to share my concerns with my Lord, and to hear Him speak. In the last few years I have begun prayer walks, which accomplish three things: fellowship, prayer, and exercise. It has changed my prayer life. I have come to understand that Jesus views us as His friend and He wants to spend time with us. We are depriving Him of His time when we put Him aside for the urgent. An interesting thing happens when we make prayer a priority: Urgent things seem to wane as we focus on Him. He makes all these other things fall into place.

Are you taking the time to get to know Him today?

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 14

Early this morning, I kept thinking of the refrain from the song Your Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture – a restatement of part of Romans 8:28 sung as:  “You make, all things, work together for my good.”  Then there was this quote by Oswald Chambers as I was reading My Utmost for His Highest devotional (www.utmost.org) :

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L

This quote brings to mind the first verse of Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Trusting God in Jesus Christ (or not!) is also addressed in the My Utmost for His Highest devotional:

We say, “It’s easy to say, ’Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.

My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”

The God Calling devotional (www.twolisteners.org) gives encouragement and instruction to build our confidence in trusting God for our help:

There is nothing lacking in your lives because really all is yours, only you lack the faith to know it. You are like a King's daughters who sit in rags, and yet around them are stores of all they could desire.

Pray for more faith, as a thirsty man in a desert prays for rain, for water. Swift comes My help, swift and strong. Do you know what it is to feel sure that I can never fail you? As sure as you are that you still breathe? How poor his man's faith! So poor. Do you trust Me as much as you would a friend if that friend came and said he would send you help? Pray daily and most diligently that your faith may increase.

"If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamore tree,
Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the
sea; and it should obey you." Luke 17:6

Back to the song – the end from the beginning – and thinking about 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (AMP) - God's love never fails:

⁴ Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

⁵ It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

⁶ It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

⁷ Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

⁸ Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 13

This week’s lesson in my class (Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival) is on grace.  The In Touch devotional magazine this month is on grace (Grace: the power to live). How I need God’s empowering grace to live, as today’s My Utmost for His Highest  devotional says, as “broken bread and poured out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for other lives”!

As I was driving along yesterday, thinking of grace, the thought came of the motto of the Navigators – “To know Christ and to make Him known.”  …okay... ?? … That thought was soon followed by another: “Your goal should be ‘to be conformed to the image of Christ.’” Oh … ok.

 

I’ve thought before on the purpose of life, of my life, and have considered the Navigators’ motto and other things:

·         I’ve heard the part of the Shorter Catechism that is, “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”   (Looking this up on the internet yielded this definition for “man’s chief end”: “The chief end of man, is that which man ought to aim at or design, to desire, seek after, and endeavor to obtain, as his chief good and happiness; unto which his life and his actions should be referred and directed.” )

·         Micah 6:8 (KJV) says:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

·         And Ecclesiastes 12:13 (KJV) says:

¹³ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

So now I’m considering Romans 8:28-30 (KJV), which says:

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

²⁹ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰ Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The definition of “conform” (according to www.dictionary.com) is:

verb (used without object)

1. to act in accordance or harmony; comply (usually followed by to ): to conform to rules.

2. to act in accord with the prevailing standards, attitudes, practices, etc., of society or a group: One has to conform in order to succeed in this company.

3. to be or become similar in form, nature, or character.

4. to be in harmony or accord.

5. to comply with the usages of an established church, especially the Church of England.

verb (used with object)

6. to make similar in form, nature, or character.

7. to bring into agreement, correspondence, or harmony.

 The Greek word used for “conformed” in Romans 8:29 (and also translated “fashioned like unto” in Philippians 3:21), according to Strong’s concordance (for G4832 as found on www.blueletterbible.org) is similar in meaning to current definition:

1) having the same form as another, similar, conformed to

The definition of “image” (according to www.dictionary.com) is:

noun

1. a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible.

2. an optical counterpart or appearance of an object, as is produced by reflection from a mirror, refraction by a lens, or the passage of luminous rays through a small aperture and their reception on a surface.

3. a mental representation; idea; conception.

4. Psychology . a mental representation of something previously perceived, in the absence of the original stimulus.

5. form; appearance; semblance: We are all created in God's image.

6. counterpart; copy: That child is the image of his mother.

7. a symbol; emblem.

8. the general or public perception of a company, public figure, etc., especially as achieved by careful calculation aimed at creating widespread goodwill.

9. a type; embodiment: Red-faced and angry, he was the image of frustration.

10. a description of something in speech or writing: Keats created some of the most beautiful images in the language.

11. Rhetoric . a figure of speech, especially a metaphor or a simile.

12. an idol or representation of a deity: They knelt down before graven images.

13. Mathematics . the point or set of points in the range corresponding to a designated point in the domain of a given function.

14. Archaic. an illusion or apparition.

Although used as a noun in Romans 8:29, it was also informative to me to consider the verb usage:

verb (used with object)

15. to picture or represent in the mind; imagine; conceive.

16. to make an image of; portray in sculpture, painting, etc.

17. to project (photographs, film, etc.) on a surface: Familiar scenes were imaged on the screen.

18. to reflect the likeness of; mirror.

19. to set forth in speech or writing; describe.

20. to symbolize; typify.

21. to resemble.

22. Informal. to create an image for (a company, public figure, etc.): The candidate had to be imaged before being put on the campaign trail.

23. to transform (data) into an exact replica in a different form, as changing digital data to pixels for display on a CRT or representing a medical scan of a body part in digital form.

The Greek word used for “image” in Romans 8:29, according to Strong’s concordance (for G1504 as found on www.blueletterbible.org) means:

1) an image, figure, likeness

a) an image of the things (the heavenly things)

1) used of the moral likeness of renewed men to God

2) the image of the Son of God, into which true Christians are transformed, is likeness not only to the heavenly body, but also to the most holy and blessed state of mind, which Christ possesses

b) the image of one

1) one in whom the likeness of any one is seen

2) applied to man on account of his power of command

3) to Christ on account of his divine nature and absolute moral excellence

 

So, I continue seeking Him as I depend upon God’s grace to empower and direct and transform me as my chief end becomes “to be conformed to the image of Christ.”

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 12

I don’t even know where to begin writing this, because I am so in awe of God and His ways in dealing with me – with all of us.

Psalm 4:3-4 (KJV)

³ But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him.

⁴ Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

 

I have gotten behind in some of my reading and was catching up on Scripture verses from a Lenten devotional calendar.  I was using The Prayer Bible (2003), with the New Living Translation (1996) for my reading.  The scheduled Scriptures for this past Friday included Hebrews 4:11-16.  Verses 12-13 stood out to me:

For the word of God is full of living power.  It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires.  It exposes us for what we really are.  Nothing in all creation can hide from Him.  Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes.  This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done.

There was a prayer written in the side margin referencing verse 12:

Holy God, I submit my innermost thoughts and desires to Your Word.  Cut through the self-protective shell, my tough, callous attitudes, and the scar tissue of old wounds; expose all my heart to Your healing gaze.

In my mind’s eye, the same image I saw on Friday appeared again as mentioned in yesterday’s blog – that of me, with my arms stretched wide, holding my coat open toward the sun (the Sun of righteousness Who will rise with healing in His wings).  [I am just now seeing that the rest of Malachi 4:2 (NLT1996) says, “And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.”  Surely I felt joy in the freedom I experienced in my deliverance from the pain of that emotional wound! Hallelujah!  Praying even now that others suffering from emotional and mental wounds – including PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) - would know this healing, this freedom, this deliverance, this release, this peace, this joy – this SAVIOR, Jesus the Christ!  Amen.]

In addition to that, yesterday’s Our Daily Bread devotional mentioned Hebrews 4:15, which was a part of the Lenten Scriptures recommended for that Friday that I read.

Also, I had the opportunity to discuss and share the Malachi 4:2 Scripture from yesterday’s God Calling with a couple of people. And not surprisingly, this Scripture was mentioned in the Prime Time with God devotional from Ephesians Four Ministries Church Growth Institute (www.churchgrowth.org) that I received in my email today.

So Lord, I thank You so much for caring so much for me, for giving so much meaning to the things I’m seeing as I seek Your face because You allow me to see You at work in and through them. Thank You for confirming Your Word so that I would understand and trust You more.  Thank You for speaking with me and to me, and for helping me to hear and obey You. I praise You, LORD, for Your faithfulness to Your Word to draw near to me as I draw near to You – knowing that even that is by Your design, through Your invitation, and at Your initiation.  I love You … thank You for loving me first, for loving me best.  Amen.

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 11

I neglected to write part of the story yesterday in detailing the freedom I experienced from my “woundedness.”  I had also been thinking about the quality and nature of the pain I was in because of my hurt feelings.  The pain that I felt in a physical fashion was from a wound that I could do nothing about physically.  In the natural, there was no hospital or doctor’s office to visit, no (medical) doctor to see, no bandage to apply, no bone to set, no medicine to take, no joint to brace, no ointment to slather on, nothing at which to look or touch.  I marveled at the way we are created – “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) - where an emotional wound could cause me to experience pain so similar to a physical wound, with no physical evidence at all that the damage exists.

In the midst of my wonder, it was as if I were being directed to “get rid of all bitterness and wrath.”  I had to confess that I didn’t quite know how to do that.  Then it was as if I saw myself holding a coat I was wearing wide open as I faced the sun.  I remembered reading something the other day about some sick people being brought out into the sun as treatment for their ailment.  And it was as if I heard or thought, “The Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings.”

So today’s God Calling devotional (www.twolisteners.org) was a confirmation of the healing and deliverance I experienced, saying:

Live outside whenever possible. Sun and air are My great healing forces, and that inward Joy that changes poisoned blood to a pure healthy life-giving flow.

Never forget that real healing of body, mind, and Spirit comes from within, from the close loving contact of your spirit with My Spirit.

"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." Malachi 4:2

 

The Our Daily Bread devotional (www.odb.org) challenged me to trust God even in my pain:

In the midst of life’s pain, we need the personal care of the Savior who lived in this world and experienced the same struggles we face. Hebrews 4:15 encourages us: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Christ, who died to give us life, is completely sufficient to carry us through our heartaches and dark experiences. He has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4).

Jesus knows there is no simple “recipe” to prevent the heartaches of life, so He entered into them with us. Will we trust Him with our tears and grief?

A continued call to serve God through serving others - even the ones who hurt you, no matter the pain (even of hurt feelings) – seems to issue from the My Utmost for His Highest devotional (www.utmost.org) as it says, in part:

If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.  …

Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.

I must confess that I struggle with why my hurt feelings even caused me such angst.

Hebrews 12:1-4

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

⁴ Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

But for now, listening to the song “Who You Are” by the group Unspoken, I just pray to grow in this grace:

Ephesians 4:30-32

³⁰ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

³¹ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

³² And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 10

I could see the lightning flash through the window blinds as I listened to the thunder and pounding rain.  My thoughts went to the meteorite which exploded above Russia recently, and the “blinding flash” that accompanied it. I thought anew of how desperately we need God, and how this is shown whenever such there is such an occurrence.  We even acknowledge God’s power in terming events outside of any possible human control as “acts of God.”   In awe, I thought of the Scripture that says:

O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the Our Daily Bread devotional (www.odb.org) for today contains a reading of Psalm 8, in which the Scripture I thought of last night is the last verse.  Remembering the song “Awesome Wonder” by Kurt Carr and The Kurt Carr Singers.  The My Utmost for His Highest devotional (www.utmost.org) had a directive for my response to my awareness to God’s awesome nature.  

Psalm 46:10

¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Thought of some verses from Romans 1 (verses 17-25, KJV):

¹⁷ For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

¹⁹ Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

²⁰ For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

²¹ Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

²³ And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

²⁴ Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

²⁵ Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

…

So I am still before the LORD, thinking of some of my actions in the past and repenting to the LORD, honestly expressing sorrow for the consequences of my sin and what it cost others, thanking God for His grace and mercy, realizing in the Light of His Presence that I was not as much of a “good person” as I had thought, grateful for the salvation purchased for me at such a precious cost.  Then, the last part of 1 Corinthians 13:5 from the Amplified Bible came to mind:

⁵ It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

“It pays no attention to a suffered wrong.”  Ok, I thought.  Then I felt it.  The knot that I had felt in my stomach, the pain in my soul, seemed to melt away.  It was gone.  GONE!  I am free of it!  Thought of Newsboys song, “I Am Free” and these Scripture verses (also from the Amplified Bible):

Romans 8:1-5  

8 Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

² For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

³ For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],

⁴ So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].

⁵ For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.

Galatians 3:13-14

¹³ Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified);

¹⁴ To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:17

¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

Galatians 5:1

 In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].

The NRSV has translated Galatians 5:1 as:

Galatians 5:1

¹ For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!!!

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 9 - 2nd

Humiliation.  Found some definitions for practicing this as a virtue online:

1.    turn the other cheek - Matt. 5:39

2.    willing to be mocked, misunderstood, spoken evil of, slandered, ridiculed, despised, suspected, rebuffed, overlooked, slighted

3.    no attempt to protect reputation

4.    willing to forego personal "rights"

Hmmm … kinda sounds like love (charity in the KJV):

1 Corinthians 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

⁴ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

⁵ Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

⁶ Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

⁷ Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

⁸ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

¹⁰ But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

¹² For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

¹³ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Humility from humiliation –I heard that somewhere.  Maybe that is where I am – at a place to choose to practice humility from a suffered humiliation.  I have been asking the LORD to remove areas of pride from within me…

Proverbs 27:6

⁶ Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

John 12:24-28

²⁴ Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

²⁵ He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

²⁶ If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

²⁷ Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

²⁸ Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Anyway, after spending some time with the LORD today, I feel my heart breaking even more than usual as I read or hear about so many news stories – about the pain we may encounter during this life.

John 16:33

³³ These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

¹⁸ While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

 Romans 5:1-5

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

² By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

³ And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

⁴ And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

⁵ And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Matthew 18:7

⁷ Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

2 Corinthians 12:6-10

⁶ For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

⁸ For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

⁹ And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

LORD, please use the pain I felt to fuel my fervency in praying for others with Your heart, Your purposes in mind for their good and for Your glory.

Hebrews 5:1-10

For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

² Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

³ And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

⁴ And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

⁵ So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.

⁶ As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

⁷ Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

⁸ Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

⁹ And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

¹⁰ Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Hebrews 7:15-28

¹⁵ And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

¹⁶ Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

¹⁷ For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

¹⁸ For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

¹⁹ For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

²⁰ And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:

²¹ (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)

²² By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

²³ And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

²⁴ But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

²⁵ Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

²⁷ Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

²⁸ For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.

AMEN!                                                                                                                                        

... and, mercifully, my journey with Him continues ...